


Childish Conduct

by raendown



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 13:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21374866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Shikamaru and Naruto are babysitting Mirai. Or rather, Shikamaru is babysitting Naruto and Mirai.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 10
Kudos: 223





	Childish Conduct

Trying to wrangle two different children was infinitely harder when one of those children was twenty years old and considered the most powerful person in several if not all of the shinobi villages. Shikamaru paused what he was doing to close his eyes and take a deep breath, gathering what strength he could.

When he opened his eyes again the scene had not changed but with a little more calm he was able to find the endearment in seeing both Naruto and Mirai covered in teriyaki sauce. At four years old she knew very well how to hold her own chopsticks and Shikamaru had been invited to dinner at their home enough to know that Kurenai had raised her to be quite the tidy little child. He had not accounted for Naruto’s tendency to lower the maturity level of everyone around him by several years just by being in the room.

“You know that you get to clean her up after this,” he said, lifting a bit of cashew and munching on it slowly. Naruto froze in the act of showing Mirai how to push her rice together to make a ball so she could flick it across the table.

“What!? You’re not going to help!?”

“Too troublesome,” Shikamaru murmured. “Look at the mess you guys have made. I had no part in that.”

He watched without sympathy as Naruto wilted, despair filling his eyes when Mirai flicked her rice with a loud whoop. Teriyaki sauce sprayed out across the table as she did so, more from her already messy hands than from the rice, but it only blended in with the long streaks already painted over the wood.

“But there’s so much of it,” his partner whined.

“And whose fault is that?”

Naruto heaved a sigh. “Mine. She’s just…look at her! Isn’t she cute when she’s having fun?”

“Very cute,” Shikamaru agreed easily because it was true. “But when I told Kurenai we’d babysit tonight I did not tell her that I would be mopping her entire kitchen while I was here. Mirai, sweet pea, what about you? Would you like to help Uncle Naruto clean up the kitchen after dinner?”

“Nope!” Mirai answered cheerfully. Beside her Naruto deflated even farther.

“Oh come on, that’s not fair. She’s the one that made the mess! All I did was…uh…”

“Start the whole thing?” Shikamaru finished for him and tried not to laugh when his partner nodded in defeat.

The rest of their meal passed without any more mess being made, though it was hard to rein Mirai in now that her inner beast had been let loose. Like any other child her age once she had found a fun game she didn’t want to stop playing it and Shikamaru happily left it up to a struggling Naruto to find a good enough distraction.

After dinner he showed the smallest bit of mercy in washing the dishes and kept their cute little charge entertained by shaping the bubbles in to animals with a combination of shadows and the same technique used for water walking. He did turn his head to check on Naruto every so often but each time he did the other man just looked more and more miserable to the point where just looking at his pout threatened to send Shikamaru over the edge in to a fit of laughter. Scrubbing the table alone took him so long that he’d barely started on the floors when it was time to put Mirai down for bed and when Shikamaru came back in to the room he had only just finished them, now standing with his hands on his hips as he glared at the teriyaki soaking in to Kurenai’s wallpaper.

“How’s it coming?”

“Why do you let me do these things to myself?” Naruto asked with a distinct whine still lingering in his tone. He melted easily when Shikamaru came forward to pull him in for a tight embrace.

“Because I love you. Even if you are barely more mature than little Mirai is.”

“Oi!”

Finally allowing himself the laugh that he’d been holding in since the first bit of sauce was fired across the kitchen, Shikamaru wasn’t upset in the slightest when Naruto pulled away from him in a huff. The man deserved it. He left his partner to finish the cleaning and moseyed on out to the living room where he very much intended to put his feet up and waste the rest of his lazy evening watching television. It was nice to be able to leave Kurenai’s gorgeous home in the same condition as when he arrived without ever having to lift a finger.


End file.
